More fun in TRNP!

Our second and final day here at Teddy Roosevelt NP was just as exciting as the first! The Gowfolk finally understand why we made the decision to spend wayyyyy too much on kayaks and assorted accoutrements. We put into the Little Missouri River at our campground, and listed and paddled for the next hour and a half through some of the most fantastic scenery we have seen. Once or twice we bottomed out and once or twice we bravely faced some rapids, but 95% of the time it was calm, peaceful, and perfect. Toward the end of the trip we were fortunate to discover wild horses
drinking from the river! We wish getting out was as easy as getting in but, unfortunately, there was some confusion about exactly where we were supposed to take the boats out. We figured it would be better to get out too early than too late as the penalty for missing the launch is four days in the wilderness. But that meant schlepping the boats through the deepest, foot- and soul-suckingest mud imaginable.

Mom and Dad were nice enough to come pick us up with the truck, but had to sit in construction for 40 minutes waiting for an escort vehicle, and then a full hour while we bushwhacked the boats up from the river. We all learned a valuable life lesson or two.  "No good deed goes unpunished" seems like something that someone was muttering under their breath... Also, black flies find sweaty paddlers a tasty treat.

We then did the park loop auto tour with construction delays on both ends.  We saw more wild hoses (4 mares, 2 foals and a stallion) and found the buffalo herd atop a butte.  A quick 1.5 mile hike down the Painted Canyon Loop, home for showers and dinner and off to bed.  Oh, and Izzie has her first Junior Ranger Badge!